An Update on ‘The Thing’ Prequel!

It has been a few months since we broke the news that Matthijs van Heijningen Jr. has been tapped to direct The Thing prequel for Universal Pictures and Strike Entertainment. A new interviewed was posted online today with “Battlestar Gallactica” show-runner Ronald D. Moore, who penned the screenplay for the prequel, where he updates us on the status of the project.“I was working on The Thing. I finished. I did my last draft a few weeks ago and turned it in,” Moore tells Sci Fi Wire “They [Universal Pictures] seem happy. They have a director [Matthijs Van Heijningen] assigned, and we’ll wait to see when and if they green-light it.”

“Well, the idea was to make a companion piece to Carpenter’s,” explaining how this is a prequel and not a remake. “I started on the project with the feeling that Carpenter’s version is just an amazing piece of work. It’s a great film, and we really wanted to honor that version.

“We wanted a piece that would link up to [the Carpenter film] and not supplant it. So we didn’t try to sort of completely reinvent what it was. We wanted a movie that would sort of live alongside it.”

Here’s the synopsis we were exclusively provided a few months ago: The prequel takes place from the Norwegian camps point of view. An American scientific expedition to the frozen wastes of the Antarctic is interrupted by a group of seemingly mad Norwegians pursuing and shooting a dog. The helicopter pursuing the dog crashes leaving no explanation for the chase. During the night, the dog mutates and attacks other dogs in the cage and members of the team that investigate. The team soon realize that an alien life-form with the ability to take over bodies is on the loose and they don’t know who may already have been taken over.